MBI member earns White House honor

Gunduz mugAysegul Gunduz, Ph.D., has been awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering investigators in the early stages of their independent research careers.

Gunduz, associate professor in the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering and a member of the McKnight Brain Institute, is principal investigator of the UF Brain Mapping Laboratory. A recent recipient of the Program Builder Award for the newly established Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health, Gunduz has been a leader in building a successful neuromodulation program across UF’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering and the university’s College of Medicine.

Her research focuses on finding precursors to behavior and after-effects of stimulation in neural networks through electrophysiology and bioimaging. Gunduz’s lab aims to translate this knowledge into diagnostic and therapeutic tools to improve quality of life for those suffering from neurological disorders such as epilepsy, Tourette syndrome and Parkinson’s disease.

Other UF recipients of the White House honor include: David J. Clark, Sc.D., research associate professor in the department of aging and geriatric research; Maitane Olabarrieta, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of civil and coastal engineering; and Domenic Forte, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering.